4.4.a.1 Evidence of TI-related changes in the area of diversity
Set 1: Notes on Logic Model / Race & Diversity Institute Meetings
12/2/11 (RDI III) Participants: Chet Laine, Janet Decker, Todd Hayden, Steve Kroeger, Annie Bauer, Adam Cooper, Karen Troupe, Holly Johnson, Leah Howell (A&S), Ric Stackpole, Karen Haring, Susan Gregson (soc. justice & equity in math education), Michael Sharp, Sandy Franz (A&S - math), Mark Kohan (Jon Breiner could not attend)
Vertical Alignment / RDI Faculty Agenda for Teacher Education Program (2012)
# / Timeline / Action / Details1 / January / Stakeholder Buy-in / Selection / Specifying need and possibility
2 / Early February / Convene Stakeholders Mtg. around Vert. Alignment vision and spiral curriculum / Milner text; who wants to do what where; develop T.E. Program syllabus
3 / Feb.-April / Stakeholder / NCATE alignment time for specific courses in teacher ed. program / Development of Vertical Alignment assignments and rubrics & integration into syllabi
4 / Early May / Stakeholders reconvene / Share syllabi along with Milner related assignments & rubrics
5 / Early June / Fully develop Vertical Alignment Map / Reveal stakeholders in the process and how V.A. is working through teacher ed. program
Student Race & Diversity Institute/Interpretive Research Community Agenda (2012)
# / Timeline / Action / Details1 / January / Faculty organize student data
(+ undergrad research proj.) / Plan student workshop & its supports
2 / Early February / Student Workshop w/data / Select/organize students, their roles, and interpretive teams
3 / Feb.-April / Student RDI interpretive community meetings / Conduct color-blindness analysis, etc.
4 / May / Student teams present findings to RDI faculty / Event
5 / June-August / Full analysis of data and write-up with faculty / Work on writing, presenting, and publishing findings of collaboration
10/17/11 Participants: Bauer, Johnson, Kohan, Kroeger, & Laine
Discussion ideas: Locating position/self in relation to teacher education course content
o Creation of Opportunity Gap Handbook
o Geneva Gay’s idea of addressing equity, not diversity
o Addressing Meritocracy
o Begin teacher ed. orientation for students to begin wrestling with identity (Chet)
o We need to go to the literature / lit. review…things (strategies) we could do in teacher ed. program to align. Map it on flow chart of teacher ed. programs across 4 years. Start with Milner’s pillars and move out…
For next time: Literature Review and Course descriptions -
10/3/11 Participants: Bauer, Johnson, Kohan, Kroeger, & Laine
o Update LM to semester numbers and major players (programmatic directors)
o Programmatic planning related to vertical alignment based on semesters
o CEC definition of diversity to be embraced throughout vertical alignment:
o CEC takes a broad and inclusive view of diversity. CEC believes diversity means understanding and valuing the characteristics and beliefs of those who demonstrate a wide range of characteristics. This includes ethnic and racial backgrounds, age, physical and cognitive abilities, family status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious and spiritual values, and geographic location. While recognizing the different groups to which individuals may belong, CEC also understands that each group is composed of persons who exhibit a broad range in values and characteristics. We must refrain from making group stereotypes. Rather, in each of our roles, as educators and as association members and staff, each person must be treated with respect and valued as an individual.
o Creating/sustaining safe places/spaces for students’ is important for our teachers to realize
o Create content map and then invite other programmatic partners to the table
o Develop lesson plans, assignments, measurements of our objectives.
Oct. 17th agenda
Phase I: review players, review semester conversion numbers, create content map
Phase II: develop lesson plans & assignments., measurement (repeated measures)
Notes from Race & Diversity Institute 9/7/11
1. Annie advocates for “Just in time” teaching
2. Smagorinsky research on “Changing Concepts” (Holly)
3. Geneva Gay (Annie/Steve)
4. Milner (Steve/Chet)
5. Race, diversity, inclusion, and differentiation a theme throughout program (culturally situated response – literary theory/positioning…Holly)
6. Freedom Writers as bringing issues of racism, diversity, inclusion, differentiation to the forefront.
7. Constant Questioning for our students- Is that true? What are the contextual/structural factors? Where do I fit…what decisions do I make...why am I reacting the way that I am/where are my judgments coming from?
8. Previous institutes have pulled from…
A. Patterson et al., The Influencer (how to change systems)
Motivation / SkillsPersonal / Make the undesirable desirable / Surpass limits
Social / Harness peer pressure / Numbers
Structural / Design rewards; demand accountability / Change the environment
B. Shulman & Shulman, 2004 model on teacher education / reflective practitioner
C. Glen Singleton and Linton – Courageous Conversations around Race
D. Sherman Alexi - Diary of a Part-time Indian
Suggested shared texts:
Nacirema and 1984
Leadership for Social Justice (Marshall)
Teaching for Social Justice (edited by Ayers, Hunt, & Quinn)
Colorline (G.Williams)
Before I Fall (YA fiction on positionality, Lauren Oliver)
The Skin I’m in (YA)
Black Boy / Their Eyes Were Watching God (juxtapose identities at work as Wright later condemns Hurston’s work…we’re all falliable, we all have much to learn, even if we’ve suffered).
How do we talk about our identities… something fluid, not fixed… multiple identities.
Group brings up CEC quote about diversity:
CEC takes a broad and inclusive view of diversity. CEC believes diversity means understanding and valuing the characteristics and beliefs of those who demonstrate a wide range of characteristics. This includes ethnic and racial backgrounds, age, physical and cognitive abilities, family status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religious and spiritual values, and geographic location. While recognizing the different groups to which individuals may belong, CEC also understands that each group is composed of persons who exhibit a broad range in values and characteristics. We must refrain from making group stereotypes. Rather, in each of our roles, as educators and as association members and staff, each person must be treated with respect and valued as an individual.
Holly uses cultural tokens/artifacts activity for students to situate themselves.
Logic Model: Snapshot of Program, aka program theory or theory of action; If-then logical step
Sample:
Inputs – program investments
Outputs – activities and participation (satisfaction at this level, not an outcome)
Outcomes – short term, intermediate, long-term
Milner’s (2010) Unexamined Assertions
1. At least three common unexamined assertions shape teachers’ conceptions around color-blindness:
Assertion 1: If I acknowledge the racial or ethnic background of my students or myself, then I may be considered racist.
Assertion 2: If I admit that people experience the world differently and that race is an important dimension of people’s experiences, I may be seen as “politically incorrect.” I may offend others in the teacher education classroom discourse if I express my beliefs and reservations about race.
Assertion 3: I should treat all my students the same regardless of who they are, what their home situations are, or what their racial experiences happen to be. Race does not matter. Racism has ended and certainly has no place or relevance in the classroom.
2. Teachers sometimes enter teacher education with assertions such as the following that can lead to cultural conflicts in the classroom:
Assertion 1: I must teach students based on how I teach my own biological children or based on how I was taught as a student, not based on my students’ cultural ways of knowing and experiencing the world (that may or may not be consistent with my own).
Assertion 2: I’m not going to tolerate students joking around with me during class. If they misbehave, I’m going to send them to the office—period!
Assertion 3: “Those” students need to adapt and assimilate into the culture of “my” classroom and accept the consequences if they do not.
3. Systemic barriers and institutional structures that can prevent success are not considered. Several assertions regarding meritocracy may emerge from teachers as they enter teacher education:
Assertion 1: All groups of people were born with the same opportunities. If students or people just work hard, put forth effort, and follow the law, then (like a formula) they will be successful.
Assertion 2: My grandparents and/or great grandparents immigrated to the United States, and they made something of their lives. There is no excuse for other groups not to succeed.
Assertion 3: If students do not succeed, it is because they are not working hard enough, not because of other factors that may be outside of their control.
Assertion 4: Some students just do not have the aptitude, ability, or skill for success; the system has nothing to do with academic achievement.
4. Teachers enter teacher education with several assertions about students and their capacity to learn:
Assertion 1: I need to distance the students of color from the “horrors” of their present cultural conditions. The students are lacking so much and their home environments make it difficult for me to teach the students.
Assertion 2: I am being sensitive to culturally diverse students when I feel sorry for them. If I expect too much, then I am setting the students up for failure.
Assertion 3: Students need teachers who try to make up for what students are lacking and not necessarily those who build on what students have because some students bring so little.
Assertion 4: It is my job to concentrate mostly on students’ test scores and to close the achievement gap—not to teach other important skills and knowledge beyond passing a standardized test.
5. When teachers enter teacher education, they may hold the following assertions related to low expectations:
Assertion 1: I am actually helping to build self-esteem among my students when I give them “easy” work that they can complete without difficulty.
Assertion 2: “Those” poor students cannot meet high expectations because they do not have the resources to do so. The students work better with lower level expectations such as completing worksheets independently.
Assertion 3: My job is to just allow certain students to get by and, at best, pass their standardized test. When they pass the standardized test, my job is done because not much more can be required of or accomplished with certain students.
Milner, H. R. (2010). What does teacher education have to do with teaching? Implications for diversity studies. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 118-131.
Title: 4-year Vertical Alignment of a Teacher Education Program to develop a diversity repertoire
Priority: Preparing Teachers to Acknowledge, Affirm, and Practice Culturally and Individually Responsive Pedagogy
Teacher Candidates will:
o Recognize and respond to a diversity repertoire in their teaching and writing.
o Recognize difference between intent and impact.
o Develop a shared vision, motivation, knowledge, and community of practice
o Vision - > learning on a continuum (ex. accessing the environment) -> avoid labels (ex. disability as perception)
o Funds of Knowledge
o Expansion of knowledge
o See people first
UC Objectives: Teach candidates to recognize an opportunity gap versus achievement gap (Start where you are but don’t stay there – Milner, 2010)
INPUTS / OUTPUTS / OUTCOMESProgram Investments / Activities / Outputs / Partici-
pants / Short term
(learning) / Intermediate
(action) / Long term
(conditions)
Student groups
Professional organizations
Learning communities
Urban Mentors
Teacher Preparation faculty
Connections across programs
Incorporation of adjuncts / Developing comprehensive list of courses/ schedules for quarters and semesters
See LM Semester Curriculum Map.xls
Getting stakeholders together
Get reading mandate people together
Market programs / Develop SoE syllabai; Statement in all syllabai about contextualized and cultural learning value (through 4 years)
Show ownership of key terms from Milner’s 5 Pillars and their positionality related to those terms
Urban Field experiences
Semester schedules needed / UC SoE faculty, instructors, and students / Bloom’s Tax.: expand perceptual field
Do what students need
Milner’s 5 Pillars: Cultural/color blindness
Cultural conflict
Myth of Meritocracy
High Expectations (funds of knowledge)
Contextualized/ situated learning
CEC definition
Building towards TPA / Lesson planning and implementation of differentiated instruction and assessment of student learning.
Culturally situated response
Case studies
What is the one thing you would change about school?
Teacher Portfolio reflecting CEC definition, 5 Pillars of Repertoire of Diversity, TPA / -Positive impact on teacher candidate learning and pedagogy.
-Improve student-teacher relationships.
-Improve student achievement
-Positive classroom climate.
-Develop personal history and positionality related to race and diversity
-1st, 2nd, and 4th year survey on race & diversity awareness and response (ex., Gorski at edchange)
Objective:
Teacher Candidates engage in consistent and critical activities to identify opportunity gaps and address them in their pedagogy throughout 4 years of coursework.
Process Measure (formative evaluation):
Candidates develop a diversity repertoire / Outcomes Measure (summative evaluation):
?
INPUTS / OUTPUTS / OUTCOMES
Program Investments / Activities / Outputs / Partici-
pants / Short term / Intermediate / Long term
Money
Staff
Knowledge Base
Technology
PAD Policy and Guidance
Objective:
Process Measure: / Outcomes Measure:
Barriers:
Academic freedom (although these courses to be of service to teacher ed. program)
Rationales:
Not all children receive the same educational opportunities.
Better outcomes for Pre-K12 students.
Enhance quality of program.
Making schools more participatory. (Reciprocal construction of knowledge)
NCLB/IDEA/ESEA
Prepare teachers to understand federal legislation regarding education.
Educate all children.
Achievement gap in schools
Participation in a democracy / civic engagement
National Educational Agenda and Value System
Economic capital
Assumptions:
These dispositions can be developed in a teacher preparation program.
Learning Community beliefs will extend beyond graduation, despite outside forces.
All children deserve positive educational opportunity.
All children do learn.
Differentiated learning is reality.
We live in a discriminatory society that is deficit focused.
All teachers desire these outcomes.